P. D. James

Lindsay Sullivan (Cardiff University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

Born 3 Aug 1920
Died 27 Nov 2014
Activity 1962-2014

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Genres and Modes

Crime and Detective

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Other

Autobiographer

Resources

James' Works

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P. D. James is one of the most popular serious detective novelists working in Britain today, renowned for her sophisticated narration and complexity of characterisation. Phyllis Dorothy James was born in Oxford in 1920, the first of three children. Her parents, Dorothy May James (1893-1966) and Sidney Victor James (1895-1979), were lower-middle class. Their marriage was not a happy one, and her mother suffered some mental ill health, including a period of compulsory hospitalisation. James's father worked for the Patent Office and the Inland Revenue and the family lived in Ludlow for a while, before moving to Cambridge when James was eleven. Her father paid for her to attend Cambridge County High School for Girls, and she remained there until she was sixteen. She enjoyed her time at…

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1819 words

Citation: Sullivan, Lindsay. "P. D. James". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 June 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2339, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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